Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama was being "disingenuous"
about his ability to override the National Security Agency and end its
bulk collection of data, arguing that in fact Obama could act on his own
to end the program.
Paul said that because the NSA has
sweeping authority under an executive order, Obama could act alone to curb the agency's power.
"Here’s
the thing about the president. He’s disingenuous about this. The
president started this program through executive order. He could end it
any time," said Paul during an appearance on "CBS This Morning." "The
Second Court of Appeals, the court that is right below the Supreme
Court, has said that it’s illegal. Why doesn’t he stop it? What’s he
waiting for? He started it on his own, he should stop it. And I’ve asked
the president repeatedly to stop the program."
Paul, who is running for president in 2016,
made similar comments on the floor of the Senate last week during a lengthy speech in which he made the case against extending the Patriot Act.
The
order that gives the NSA broad spying authority was actually
implemented in 1981 under President Ronald Reagan. The government has
been collecting bulk metadata
since the Bush administration
-- a program authorized under section 215 of the Patriot Act, which
will expire on June 1. In 2011, Obama reauthorized certain provisions in
the Patriot Act that allowed for bulk data collection. Last year,
however, Obama announced
that he would curb some aspects of the NSA's metadata program.
A Paul spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment about Paul's timeline of the NSA program.
Paul also said on Tuesday that data gathered under the NSA bulk collection program should be deleted.
"I
think it should be purged. I think that information was collected
illegally and should be purged," Paul said during an interview on "Fox
& Friends."
On Friday, Paul
thwarted several attempts to extend the Patriot Act after the Senate blocked legislation that would have ended NSA bulk collection.
UPDATE:
2:00 p.m. -- Speaking generally about Paul's comments, White House
press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday that Obama could not
unilaterally end bulk data collection.
"The authorities that are
used by our national security professionals to keep us safe are
authorities that are given to those national security professionals by
the Congress, and those authorities can only be renewed by the United
States Congress through an act of Congress," Earnest said.
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